Cities in the United States

Parts of the United States of America

General info

-cities are required to be chartered

-every city with >100,000 people and >= 500 ppl/km^2 density is additionally chartered under federal government

-total of 281 federally chartered cities

-most of them are east of Mississippi, only two (Websteropolis and Cherisia) are in Interior

-a lot of cities not on this list on the Eastern Corridor

-along the shore from Portland to Fernandina

-to the extent the Eastern Corridor sometimes said to be one extended city


-land value tax being a thing means cities tend to densify

-and because of auto-annexation provisions of Constitution of the United States (1885) > Section 5. Organization of Cities they annex suburbs

-and with city density level being >= 500 /km^2 (assumptions of 1892 population levels) suburbs have to be very sparse to avoid annexation

-unless they're in separate states

-cities have higher land value tax than the rest of the US which also promotes densification

-to the level of townhouse complexes max

-this means to avoid annexation and have lower tax brackets, suburbs must either

-have large greenbelts annexed and avoid development there

-separate themselves (by at least 5 km w/ roads, rail b/w) from the city

-follow garden city plan of having pretty massive green space throughout and owned by city

-have pretty large parks, including several forests


-total of 206,456,000 people, of 67% of population, live in these metro areas

-other cities >= 100,000 people federally chartered contain another 58 million people, of 19% of US's population

-and then another 15 million people, of 5% of US's population, in non-federally chartered cities

-last 30 million, or 10% of population, live in rural areas

Broad history

-with Liberty and Union War (1868-76) a great many cities left in ruins

-New York City blown up

-and only haphazardly reconstructed afterwards

-Cincinnati greatly damaged

-Chicago continues to have piles of bodies from brutal battle inspiring disease

-Washington only reconstructed for functionality

-most of South in wreck


-reconstruction sees unprecedented planning for cities as part of building "new society"

-Washington dramatically remodelled to become a city of grandeur

-hyper-opulent as well

-a lot of room made for modern neoclassical architecture

-as well as the State of Anacostia > National Colosseum

-New York City planned through a more privatized process

-ample space for parks and greenbelts

-in particular Union Square expanded and turned into Versailles-style garden

-more decentralized commercial districts across city

-plans for expansion also established

-and industry directed by city and state

-and most optimally new architectural harmony but not imposed particularly well

-across the South there's a new focus on New England-style cities as it's they who join up with the Freedmen's Department

-city greens established in central grounds

-new churches become central element in such cities


-with postwar urbanization as many soldiers choose to move to cities crisis emerges as many determine how to accommodate

-new crisis emerges of wealthy in banleagues [suburbs]not paying to city taxes

-new idea that emerges is of satellite "garden city" which is much less dense than most cities

-and a lot more green space managed by city administration

-slowly put into practice

-green space particularly useful to many in the city proper


-Constitution of the United States (1885) puts into practice idea that cities deserve some sort of special recognition

-now required to be chartered

-and sufficiently large cities get federal chartering to free them from whims of the state

-additionally banleagues with density greater than 500/km^2 annexed into city proper

-results in new pattern of cities of the periurban crown

-garden cities with "low enough" density now established as a sort of "crown" around cities as a banleague

-connected through rail and in this era built around Velocipede

-it's only after these garden cities that truly populated banleagues exist

-although many of them are also garden cities

-and most of them are shaped around velocipede as well

-this pattern often justified on basis that periurban crown serves as "lungs" of the city to prevent metaphorical (or even literal) asphyxiation


-south continues to lag developmentally

-huge amounts of population change as many whites either killed or emigrate

-in-migration of Europeans (esp. Eastern Europeans) and Northerners changes it a lot

-also many black people wary of living in cities and prefer the farm

-aside from in Upper South where land redistribution was less intense

-although in Appalachia industrialism rises

-large white population moves to city

-likewise in Virginia modernization sees rise of Richmond and Norfolk as truly huge cities

-and Charleston sees dramatic rise as a port

-also West Florida becomes totally remade by war

-thanks to rise of resorts and Vitascopy industry

-becomes the "American Riviera", also known as the "Silver Coast"

-by modern day there's a pretty big migration to the south with rise of air cooling and electrification

Ranking


Rank City State City proper Metropolitan
1 New York City[1] Does not include Staten Island but does include Westchester, Rockland, and Nassau Counties New York 18,590,000 22,785,000
2 St. Louis Missouri 11,121,000 15,038,000
3 Cincinnati Ohio 8,547,000 10,415,000
4 Richmond Virginia 7,231,000 7,576,000
5 Charleston South Carolina 5,991,000 6,291,000
6 Philadelphia Pennsylvania 5,713,000 7,278,000
7 Segovia[2] Tulsa Cimarron 4,876,000 5,147,000
8 Black Rock New York 4,733,000 4,813,000
9 St. Paul Ontonagon 4,422,000 6,042,000
10 Norfolk[3] Includes Norfolk and Virginia Beach Virginia 4,401,000 4,840,000
11 Persitia[4] Atlanta - Latinization of the indigenous name, Peachtree Georgia 4,269,000 4,405,000
12 Port Townsend Olympia 4,239,000 4,428,000
13 Boston Massachusetts 4,210,000 7,521,000
14 New Orleans Orleans 4,180,000 6,743,000
15 Independence Missouri 3,788,000 5,012,000
16 East St. Louis Illinois 3,750,000 15,038,000[5] Greater St. Louis
17 Memphis Tennessee 3,719,000 6,948,000
18 Fairfax Virginia 3,287,000 9,083,000[6] part of the Washington metropolitan area
19 Vermillionville[7] Lafayette Orleans 3,191,000 3,421,000
20 Wilmington North Carolina 2,983,000 3,161,000
21 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 2,829,000 3,447,000
22 Concord[8] Indianapolis - proposed name Indiana 2,725,000 2,929,000
23 Greensboro North Carolina 2,659,000 2,732,000
24 Sandusky Ohio 2,648,000 2,727,000
25 Jersey City[9] includes the whole of northwestern New Jersey, including Staten Island New Jersey 2,581,000 22,785,000[10] part of Greater New York
26 Raleigh North Carolina 2,501,000 2,578,000
27 Mandeville West Florida 2,442,000 6,743,000[11] part of the New Orleans metro area
28 Louisville Kentucky 2,422,000 3,991,000
29 Wichata Kances 2,342,000 2,547,000
30 Fayetteville North Carolina 2,307,000 2,434,000
31 Millewackie Wisconsan 2,260,000 2,352,000
32 Lille[12] Birmingham, Alabama - named after a different industrial center Yazoo 2,201,000 2,329,000
33 Lynchburg Virginia 1,929,000 2,321,000
34 Miami[13] Toledo - named after river Michigan 1,903,000 3,562,000
35 Bladensburg Maryland 1,873,000 9,083,000[6] part of the Washington metropolitan area
36 Columbus Ohio 1,859,000 2,175,000
37 Washington[14] Consists of OTL Washington east of Rock Creek, and not including the Anacostia coast Anacostia 1,643,000 9,083,000
38 Coatesbourg[15] Shreveport Orleans 1,638,000 1,814,000
39 West Memphis Tennessee 1,594,000 6,948,000[16] part of the Memphis metropolitan area
40 Rochester New York 1,586,000 1,638,000
41 Fernandina East Florida 1,577,000 2,473,000
42 Jeffersonville Indiana 1,512,000 3,991,000[17] part of the Louisville metropolitan area
43 Clinton[18] Michigan City - named by New Yorker settlers after DeWitt Clinton Indiana 1,483,000 1,997,000
44 Monticello[19] Oklahoma City Cimarron 1,465,000 1,641,000
45 St. Anthony[20] Minneapolis Juniper 1,460,000 6,042,000[21] part of Greater St. Paul
46 Chicago Wisconsan 1,441,000 1,512,000
47 Portsmouth New Hampshire 1,429,000 7,521,000[22] part of the Boston metro area
48 Pensacola West Florida 1,424,000 1,651,000
49 Covington Kentucky 1,401,000 10,415,000[23] part of Greater Cincinnati
50 Syracuse New York 1,392,000 1,453,000
51 Perrysburg Ohio 1,381,000 3,562,000[24] part of the Greater Miami Area
52 Fort Wayne Indiana 1,356,000 1,567,000
53 Knoxville Franklin 1,341,000 1,418,000
54 Mobile West Florida 1,344,000 1,836,000
55 Topequa Kances 1,234,000 1,341,000
56 Albany New York 1,212,000 1,349,000
57 Boston[25] Kansas City, Kansas Kances 1,189,000 5,012,000[26] part of the Independence metro area
58 Baltimore Maryland 1,165,000 1,252,000
59 Worcester Massachusetts 1,103,000 7,521,000[22] part of the Boston metro area
60 Allentown Pennsylvania 1,074,000 1,162,000
61 Columbia South Carolina 1,054,000 1,223,000
62 Twickenham[27] Huntsville - former name, named after birthplace of Alexander Pope Yazoo 1,017,000 1,231,000
63 Chattanooga Franklin 982,000 1,321,000
64 Fondulac[28] Duluth, Minnesota Ontonagon 968,000 1,045,000
65 Harrisburg Pennsylvania 947,000 1,032,000
66 Camden New Jersey 911,000 7,278,000[29] part of the Philadelphia metro area
67 Milan Ohio 888,000 921,000
68 Lexington Kentucky 879,000 993,000
69 St. Marys Georgia 865,000 2,473,000[30] part of the Fernandina metro area
70 Iron Gate Virginia 848,000 893,000
71 New Haven Connecticut 824,000 22,785,000[10] part of Greater New York
72 Providence Rhode Island 806,000 7,521,000[22] part of the Boston metro area
73 Dorr[31] Sioux City - named after Thomas Wilson Dorr Nibrasca 793,000 848,000
74 Savannah Georgia 764,000 1,241,000
75 Burlington Vermont 748,000 781,000
76 Columbia South Carolina 736,000 764,000
77 Appalachicola West Florida 729,000 904,000
78 Sowashee[32] Meridian, Mississippi Mississippi 701,000 732,000
79 Cedar Rapids Juniper 683,000 703,000
80 Augusta Georgia 662,000 991,000
81 Tipton[33] Southaven Yazoo 645,000 6,948,000[16] part of the Memphis metropolitan area
82 Green Bay Wisconsan 622,000 653,000
83 Espirito Santo[34] Tampa West Florida 603,000 739,000
84 Ann Arbor Michigan 598,000 621,000
85 Cleveland Ohio 583,000 602,000
86 Steubenville Ohio 571,000 3,447,000[35] part of the Pittsburgh metro area
87 Trenton New Jersey 564,000 581,000
88 Lowndes[36] Jefferson, Missouri Missouri 559,000 572,000
89 Harpers Ferry Virginia 549,000 582,000
90 Peoria Illinois 542,000 574,000
91 Wilmington Delaware 533,000 7,278,000[29] part of the Philadelphia metro area
92 Fredericksburg Virgini 524,000 549,000
93 Charleston Virginia 516,000 541,000
94 Lancaster Pennsylvania 508,000 531,000
95 Portland Maine 502,000 524,000
96 Galinee[37] New Buffalo Michigan 491,000 1,997,000[38] part of the Clinton metro area
97 Wheeling Alleghania 479,000 770,000
98 Geecheeville[39] parts of Jasper & Beaufort County South Carolina 462,000 1,241,000[40] part of the Savannah metro area
99 Vogels Ferry[41] Grand Forks Pembina 451,000 473,000
100 Nashville Tennessee 443,000 501,000
101 Cromwell[42] Portage Wisconsan 419,000 474,000
102 Brunswick Georgia 414,000 458,000
103 Detroit Michigan 406,000 445,000
104 Wetonqua[43] Wetonka, South Dakota Minasota 386,000 430,000


Notes

-the US is a very different society here due to much less expansion and little West Coast presence

-as a result, there is less room for Sun Belt migration, which still happens but is less

-furthermore, without the US becoming a world power in the same way, and without Europe being as wrecked, American industry doesn't have a time period of being complacent and so modernizes more early, resulting in no Rust Belt

-while also being focused much more on internal production

-and more protectionism allowing for more industry (with largely internal market)


-New York gets amalgamated early (in 1872) and attempts to rehouse people from its tenements considerably earlier

-note that due to Washington housing Bank of the United States, it is not quite heavy center of financial industry, resulting in it becoming relatively smaller in 19th century

-nevertheless, it's still clear center of the United States and booms more with less Rust Belt and no 70s syndrome

-also Land Value Tax helps it a lot


-St. Louis gets much more development thanks to, first transcontinental railroad, and second, it gets massive post-Liberty and Union War (1868-76) construction

-and lack of West Coast meaning more people move here

-due to almost no West Coast, more people move to Midwest (esp. Ohio)

-also Illinois is slave state here, so fewer people move there

-resulting in way bigger Cincinnati, which retains the importance it had in this smaller US


-New Orleans does way better due to much greater importance of Mississippi River here

-and also no equiv of Jones Act making shipping through it more viable


-due to Chicago being in sep state from Illinois, canal to Mississippi that makes it big gets constructed beginning in 1848 (ends in 1857), and it takes till the late 1880s for Chicago to be raised

-resulting in it losing and becoming just a major port

-however, during Liberty and Union War (1868-76), it is very important as, with Illinois going Richmondite, Chicago is only land connection b/w Constitutionalist east and west

-giving it nickname "Keystone City"


-St. Paul is eastern terminus of second transcontinental railroad, resulting in it being way bigger

-in addition to further importance of Mississippi making it major inland port


-Ohio and Erie and Miami and Erie Canals get constructed in the 1810s and 20s, helping both Cincinnati and Toledo

-also Sandusky gets selected as mouth of Ohio and Erie canal, making it take the place of Cleveland in history (albeit with less growth thanks to Cincinnati's hugeness)


-Michigan invests way more in Toledo, and so it replaces Detroit as its big metropolis

-note, however, that it doesn't become a one-industry town, resulting in a less massive boom (and also less urban decay)


-Indiana does well with its Mammoth Internal Improvements Bill, resulting in Michigan City blooming as a city

-Illinois selects Peoria as a capital, developing it as its big city

-Independence, Missouri gets selected as town with transcontinental train station, and so it booms in place of Kansas City and becomes center of its town


-the South sees way more industry due to protectionist policies under American Presidents > 1829-1837 Henry Clay (Republican, then National Republican) and American Presidents > 1845-1852 Daniel Webster (Unionist) † being default in antebellum history

-also, cheaper "slave price" due to trans-Caribbean slave trade resulting in slave breeding plantations being much bigger, resulting in more slaves available for industry

-this rubs off to post-plantation era

-Richmond becomes much larger due to this slave-powered slavery

-and also James River and Kanawha Canal gets constructed, both Richmond and Louisville boom thanks to it

-and so does Lynchburg

-Charleston likewise does boom for same reason

-and Charleston, Louisville, and Cincinnati Railroad is among first railroads

-a canal connecting Savannah and Tennessee rivers gets made in 1820s, and so Atlanta booms earlier with a different name

-and following rise of air coolers and all that, massive migration down south centralized to little US parts


-Baltimore stagnates heavily due to investing in much less prominent canals instead of B&O Railroad

-and also because Washington takes its place

-by the modern day, it is effectively an outlying suburb of Washington

-connected by rail


-while Chesapeake and Ohio Canal results in Washington booming

-also it gets much more industry, (National University of the United States of America > Smithsonian Institution) being university results in university students being there, tech boom being prominent there

-note that the state of Anacostia is effectively a city-state with its governor effectively a mayor, and if you count it as such, its population is over 3 million


-Burlington Vermont booms thanks to being suburb of big Montreal

-and also because Laurentian Republic > Laurentian Crisis (1886-8) led to many businesses fleeing to there

-and though Montreal has long since recovered the boom of Burlington never ended


-Reconstruction being a success here means Wilmington booms and doesn't suffer its 1898 coup

-and canalization of Cape Fear River means Fayetteville sees great boom


-due to Port Townsend being only American port on the Pacific, it expands hugely


-Fernandina gets selected as Atlantic terminus for canal from Suwanee to Atlantic, and this makes it leading city of Florida


-The Erie Canal's terminus is selected as Black Rock instead of Buffalo, and so Black Rock eats Buffalo instead of the other way around

-additionally, Rochester has become something of an out-lying suburb of Black Rock, connected by rail

Old notes

-In general, the Midwest never turns into the Rust Belt because, first, this is a timeline without World War II and so the US doesn't just sit complacent in its industry's super-confidence, and second, without California and the rest of the west, industry doesn't move stuff like the tech boom instead occurs in the Midwest

-Fort Wayne is bigger because it's both on the Wabash and Erie Canal and the terminus of the canal to Michigan City


-Websteropolis, Pembina - Minot, South Dakota, major center with at least 200k people



  1. Does not include Staten Island but does include Westchester, Rockland, and Nassau Counties ⮐
  2. Tulsa ⮐
  3. Includes Norfolk and Virginia Beach ⮐
  4. Atlanta - Latinization of the indigenous name, Peachtree ⮐
  5. Greater St. Louis ⮐
  6. part of the Washington metropolitan area ⮐
  7. Lafayette ⮐
  8. Indianapolis - proposed name ⮐
  9. includes the whole of northwestern New Jersey, including Staten Island ⮐
  10. part of Greater New York ⮐
  11. part of the New Orleans metro area ⮐
  12. Birmingham, Alabama - named after a different industrial center ⮐
  13. Toledo - named after river ⮐
  14. Consists of OTL Washington east of Rock Creek, and not including the Anacostia coast ⮐
  15. Shreveport ⮐
  16. part of the Memphis metropolitan area ⮐
  17. part of the Louisville metropolitan area ⮐
  18. Michigan City - named by New Yorker settlers after DeWitt Clinton ⮐
  19. Oklahoma City ⮐
  20. Minneapolis ⮐
  21. part of Greater St. Paul ⮐
  22. part of the Boston metro area ⮐
  23. part of Greater Cincinnati ⮐
  24. part of the Greater Miami Area ⮐
  25. Kansas City, Kansas ⮐
  26. part of the Independence metro area ⮐
  27. Huntsville - former name, named after birthplace of Alexander Pope ⮐
  28. Duluth, Minnesota ⮐
  29. part of the Philadelphia metro area ⮐
  30. part of the Fernandina metro area ⮐
  31. Sioux City - named after Thomas Wilson Dorr ⮐
  32. Meridian, Mississippi ⮐
  33. Southaven ⮐
  34. Tampa ⮐
  35. part of the Pittsburgh metro area ⮐
  36. Jefferson, Missouri ⮐
  37. New Buffalo ⮐
  38. part of the Clinton metro area ⮐
  39. parts of Jasper & Beaufort County ⮐
  40. part of the Savannah metro area ⮐
  41. Grand Forks ⮐
  42. Portage ⮐
  43. Wetonka, South Dakota ⮐